Integrating coral habitat potential and coastal protection services in design of artificial reefs: A case study in Addu City, Maldives

This research focuses on the implementation of the Building with Nature (BwN) approach in the design of artificial coral reefs. The goal is to explore environmental preferences and design tools for coral development, considering both coral habitat potential and coastal protection services. The research also aims to optimize artificial reef...

Computing breakwater stability using SWASH: The effects of model choices, shallow foreshore and oblique waves on the stability of a rubble mound breakwater

On the east coast of Romania, at Eforie, coastal erosion manifests. To strengthen the coastal area a large coastal protection project was setup involving beach nourishment combined with the construction of breakwaters. The breakwaters are designed with the well-known modified Van der Meer formulas. To ensure confidence in the breakwaters...

Development of a non-equilibrium beach in a low-energy lake environment: Using the Noordstrand of the Marker Wadden as a case study

The Noordstrand of the Marker Wadden has been subject to much more erosion than expected. From our current understanding of this low-energy system we cannot explain what has been the cause of this. The goal of this thesis is to create a better understanding of the different processes responsible for the development of this non-equilibrium beach...

Numerical modelling of tidal turbines in the vicinity of a weir: Application to the Eastern Scheldt barrier

Tidal energy has a large potential to contribute to achieving the sustainability goals in the Netherlands, due to the long coastline and many estuaries. The investment costs for the implementation of offshore tidal energy are however, still a drawback. A possibility to lower the investment costs for tidal energy is to implement tidal energy...

Spectral Wave Dissipation by Vegetation: A new frequency distributed dissipation model in SWAN

Climate change puts under pressure existing and future coastal interventions. Growing threats like sea-level rise and intensity of storms require solutions to be adaptable and resilient. Nature-based solutions have shown to tackle these challenges while providing social, environmental, and economic benefits. The role of vegetation in coastal...

Wave energy dissipation by a viscous surface layer: Effects on the shear diffusion of a mineral oil slick

Mineral oil spills at sea can have many negative consequences. For both preventive and responsive purposes, it is essential to accurately forecast oil spill evolution. Shear diffusion (in this context, i.e. the combined effect of vertical mixing and differentiated horizontal advection of mass) determines for a significant part the evolution of...

Morphodynamic behaviour of coastal hard-soft transitions: A case study of Maasvlakte 2

All over the world, coastal protection measures are taken, which can be soft (e.g. sand nourishments on sandy beaches) or hard (e.g. seadikes or seawalls). Special care has to be taken to design the transition between these hard and soft flood defences, as they are often vulnerable components of a coastal defence system. This study therefore...

Simulation of Nearshore Processes and Testing of Implicit and Explicit Vegetation Representations in SWAN

Using data made available by George Mason University (GMU), a U.S. university situated in Virginia. Field data is used to validate both a Delft 3D and SWAN standalone model. The paper not only shows the difference between the implicit manning roughness approach and the explicit cylindrical vegetation approach, but also provides a comparison...

Numerical estimation and application of slamming wave impact on monopile structures

For the offshore wind industry it is essential to further reduce costs to be competitive to traditional energy resources. One of the options to achieve so is optimizing support structure design. Using XL-monopiles allows for larger turbines, deeper water access and consequently can provide for a more cost effective support structure. Within this...

Wave Transformation on Shallow Foreshores: A Study with SWAN and SWASH

Across the world, the presence of humans in coastal regions is always increasing. Hydraulic forcing from extreme events is a large risk around the global coastlines, the risk being complicated by the increased human presence along the coasts.<br/>The knowledge that vegetation can be used as a coastal protection measure is not something new. The...